PAX Centurion - April / June 2016

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • April-May-June 2016 • Page 45 By P.O. William Shaw & P.O. James Lydon, Boston Police Academy Academy Corner Recruit Class #55-15 C lass #55-15 will graduate 67 officers on June 29, 2016, after 28 weeks of grueling training. Fifty three desperately needed officers will join our ranks in Boston and 14 officers will join the departments inAndover, Belmont, Dedham, Edgartown, NorthAttle- boro, Norwood, Salem, and Stoughton. We are very proud to produce the best police officers, not only for Boston but for much of Eastern Massachusetts. Smart TrainingGuns W e recently purchased (after thorough research by Police Officer Darryl Owens) a high tech, yellow training gun. This new tool will supplement the traditional “blue gun” which was useful for recruit training, in-service defensive tactics, and in-service scenario training. The smart firearm has an alarm that sounds when the user’s finger moves from the trigger guard to the trigger. Deliberate trigger pulls activate an electronic sound that mimics gunfire. We believe that this new tool will assist us in meeting our challenge to provide the best training to the best police officers in the country. S.A.L.T. #13-16 I nApril and May, we had Sergeants Advanced Leadership Train- ing for nine new sergeants. This is the 13 th session of four weeks of training to prepare new sergeants for their upcoming roles. The academy staff and several adjunct instructors provided instruction in areas such as bring backs / show-ups, crime scene management, crowd control, FDIT, Code 99s, breathalyzer, and hazmat. Good luck to our new sergeants! OutsideAgencies W e have also been busy training outside agencies. During the spring, we provided in-service training to the Boston Public Health Commission Police, the Boston Park Rangers, and the State Division of Professional Licensure Investigators. We also had recent training for newly hired Boston Park Rangers and Boston Public Health Commission Police. Active Shooter Training A cademy staff instructors Sergeant James Blake, Police Offi- cer John Downey, and Police Officer Ricky Rabb have taken leading roles in producing over 60 training sessions for active shooter response. They have provided training to prepare agencies to work with responding Boston police officers in an active shooter situation. This training has been provided to city agencies such as Boston City Hall, the Boston School Department, and the BostonWater and Sewer Commission. Also our staff has trained a diverse section of the private sector including most of our major universities, the Veteran’s Administration, the Boston Medical Center, the Islamic Society of Boston, Longwood Pediatrics, the Intercontinental Hotel, the Marriott Custom House, and the House of Blues. Since the active shooter incident in San Bernardino and the Paris attacks in December, there has been a huge demand for active shooter training, and our staff has responded admirably. E-Learning O ur E-Learning staff consists of Captain Richard Sexton, Lieutenant John Flynn, Virginia Gaughan, and Megan Lee, with support from the entire staff (pretty good actors, one and all). E-Learning has recently achieved an impressive hallmark. As of this article, over 2,000 department employees have participated in E-Learning. We have the first E-Learning program in the state, and we have also provided material for, and helped other agencies devel- op, E-Learning programs. We have achieved our goal of providing quality training with less disruption of our officers’ schedules. AcademyGym A s a reminder, the hours of our gym run from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm when there is no recruit class in the building, and 9:00 am to 7:00 pm when there is a class in the building. Our well trained Physical Training staff, which includes police officers Eddy Chrispin, Janet Lewis, John Ezekiel, and John Downey, is always happy to give advice and assist our members with physical training and nutrition. Occasionally, we have to close the gyms because we are using them for training. When this occurs, we will announce the closings in advance through department e-mail and post signs in the gyms. InClosing O ur staff is proud to be a support unit for our department, and we are committed to training our members. If you need assistance, please call us at 4410. Thank you! Guess who? Name this BPPA member – Pictures are scattered throughout this issue of the PAX – first correct response to rcolburn@bppa.org wins a $50.00 Dunkin Donuts gift card. If NO correct responses, the now-grown-up member wins!